ATHENS/LUXEMBOURG (Reuters) – Euro zone leaders will hold an emergency summit on Monday to try to avert a Greek default after bank withdrawals accelerated and government revenue slumped as Athens and its international creditors remain deadlocked over a debt deal.

Finance ministers of the 19-nation currency bloc failed to make any breakthrough on a cash-for-reforms agreement at talks in Luxembourg on Thursday, just 12 days before Greece must make a crucial debt repayment to the International Monetary Fund.

BRUSSELS, June 18 (Reuters) – Greece has already received
debt relief from its euro zone creditors equal to half of its
2013 GDP in net present value terms, the euro zone bailout fund
said in its annual report, noting Greek public debt was now high
but sustainable.

Greece has made debt relief a key demand in its negotiations
with international creditors on what reforms it must implement
to secure further funding. Without new loans it will default
and, possibly, be forced to exit the euro currency.

BRUSSELS/ATHENS (Reuters) – Talks on ending a deadlock between Greece and its international creditors broke up in failure on Sunday, with European leaders venting their frustration as Athens stumbled closer towards a debt default that threatens its future in the euro.

European Union officials blamed the collapse on Athens, saying it had failed to offer anything new to secure the funding it needs to repay 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to the International Monetary Fund by the end of this month.

BRUSSELS/ATHENS, June 14 (Reuters) – Greek negotiators were
expected to press the country’s international creditors for debt
relief on Sunday as Europe stepped up pressure on Athens to
offer major concessions on austerity and reform or face dire
consequences.

Neither side doubts the urgency of reaching a deal as Greece
must repay 1.6 billion euros ($1.8 billion) to the International
Monetary Fund by the end of this month or default, putting its
future in the euro in grave danger.

ATHENS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he was willing to accept unpalatable compromises to secure a deal with international creditors, provided he gets debt relief in return, something that Germany refuses to countenance.

With Greece heading towards possible default and bankruptcy, he told his negotiating team before it took a counter-proposal to Brussels that without debt relief he would say “no” to any settlement with the EU and IMF that isolate his country from the rest of Europe.

ATHENS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – EU officials revealed on Friday that they had held their first formal talks on the worst-case scenario for Greece, but the darkening outlook failed to fluster Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who holed up with his negotiators after proclaiming his optimism at an open air concert.

No one knows, least of all in Athens or Brussels, whether the anti-austerity government can reach a deal with its international lenders before an end-June deadline to avoid putting the country in grave danger of crashing out of the euro zone.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Senior EU officials have formally discussed for the first time a possible Greek debt default as negotiations between Athens and its creditors have stalled ahead of an end-month repayment deadline, several officials told Reuters.

The government representatives, preparing next week’s Eurogroup meeting of euro zone finance ministers, concluded at talks in Bratislava late on Thursday that there were three possible scenarios for what would happen with Greece at the end of June. The least likely, they think, is a successful cash-for-reform deal next week in time to meet end-June legal deadlines.

BRUSSELS/ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece and its international lenders moved closer to the brink on Wednesday with the leaders of Germany and France holding off on an expected meeting with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to press for more concessions from the Greek side.

Athens said it was waiting for the creditors to respond to ideas it put forward on Monday. Euro zone officials said the proposals were inadequate to plug holes in the Greek budget and also dodged key reforms to make the economy more competitive.

ATHENS/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called on his fractious Syriza party to rally behind the government on Tuesday as time runs critically short to unlock funding from international lenders and avert a debt default.

Tsipras made his plea as Greek negotiators pushed to narrow differences with the European Union and IMF creditors over a cash-for-reform deal on which the country’s future in the euro largely depends.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – A planned meeting between the leaders of Germany, France, and Greece on Wednesday was in doubt as Greece’s reform proposals to unlock new funding to ward off a debt default fell well short, European Union officials said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras were to have met on the fringes of a summit of EU leaders and heads of state and government of Latin American countries in Brussels, to clinch a political agreement on technical proposals submitted earlier by Greece.

About Jan

"Based in Brussels since 2005, I cover economic policy news from the European Commission, EU and euro zone economic data, monthly meetings of EU/euro zone finance ministers as well as G7/8/20 meetings.
Before Brussels I was a correspondent in Stockholm for five years, covering technology stocks and the Swedish central bank. I was earlier a correspondent in Poland for seven years, covering macroeconomic policy, bond, forex and money markets, the central bank and politics."